/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I always try to post this when you nerds come asking this shit, so I'll try to condense what I can, but it's usually impossible for me. Sorry bud.

Have you're ID ready (it doesn't need to be your new 21 sideways one, workers can fucking read)
Buy 50mL shots of any hard liquor that you can until you learn what you personally like the most (gin, vodka, whisky, tequila, rum, cognac, or brandy) and work from there.
Try 187mL shots of the wines if you want to find a wine you like. I'm a Merlot guy. Things like absinthe, sake, and mead are classified as wines in liquor stores.
Liquor (liqur) and liqueur (likoor) are not the same thing - liquor is a broad term for alcohol, liqueur is high sugar and flavoring over alcohol - flavored ethanol really (Fireball, Jagermeister, Dekuyper, Kinky).

Beer is best separated into colors rather than trying to jump into every style and sub-style divided by all regional semantic bullshit. Try some light beers (pilsner or lager, saisons, sours), try some amber/medium beers (ales, sours), and try some dark beers (brown ales, stouts, and porters). Beer threads on here are always littered with some real drinkers that can give you better guidance. It's always recommended that you start with any place that lets you make your own 6 pack, but even better is a place that will let you buy any number of singles you want.
Don't feel like you have to buy something when you walk into the store. There's no pressure, just try not to give off that 'sketchy' vibe like you might have stole something. Liquor stores can make requests, so if you can't find what you're looking for in the entire town, go somewhere where you think the place might actually take a request. I've had a beer distributor sell me two singles once, right out of a 4 pack from a case, for single prices.

>>11687442
sure thing. paperback, they're cheap. don't buy a fancy ass colorful book that only gives you a small list. you can also download a few online. i think you can find the original Mr. Boston Bartending Guide online in PDF format along with countless others of course.
there's really only about 10 major mixed drinks you should know about for any real social occasion you might encounter.
sorry i'm not posting supplemental shit. all my shit's on a hard drive about 10 feet from me and my ass ain't gettin up.